Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the National Pollinator Strategy to date.

In 2017 the Government published its first progress report for the National Pollinator Strategy. It highlights positive progress with the Strategy’s 23 policy and 11 evidence actions.

For example, in 2015 we introduced a Pollinator and Wildlife Package to our Countryside Stewardship Scheme to provide a suite of habitats on farmland. We now have 2,000 new agreements in place that include the Package (47% of the total since 2015) and, together with other options, they are delivering 2,600 hectares of flower rich margins or pollen and nectar plots to support wild pollinators. We are currently evaluating the impact of Countryside Stewardship on wild pollinators. This research will be completed in 2019.

Through our investment in research, surveillance and planning we have been able to detect and eradicate the Asian hornet, an invasive species which poses a devastating threat to honey bees and wild pollinators.

We have established a dedicated UK pollinator monitoring and research partnership and, in 2014, we published a new indicator of trends in the status of pollinating insects. The indicator shows that the overall status of pollinating insects has declined since 1980. Although not definitive, there are early indications that this trend may have stabilised in recent years. We will continue to take action for pollinators and encourage others to do the same through our Bees’ Needs campaigns.